Rotating airfoil or mechanical kites have existed in various forms for many years. They are unique among kites because a wind powered rotary motion of the kite is a necessary and integral part of its flight. When the relative air movement is of sufficient velocity to provide lift to the kite equal to its weight, it will rise and rotate on a central axis and continue this rotating motion throughout its flight. Despite this novel and unusual difference, the rotary kite has remained little known, difficult to obtain, and has accounted for only a small percentage of the kite market.
An important characteristic of any kite is stability, the ability to acquire and maintain altitude, without diving, throughout an acceptable wind velocity range. Rotary kites, priced generally at eight times or more those kites at the economy end of the market, have, by comparison, lacked a desirable amount of stability, an important consideration in the marketability of a higher priced kite.